**EXTINCTION PRINCIPLES SHOULD NEVER BE USED WHEN STUDENT BEHAVIOR CAN HARM THE STUDENT OR PEERS.**
I’m sure if you’ve spent any time working in special education you’ve heard the term extinction or planned ignoring. I wanted to take some time to dive deep into extinction with you and provide some information that will be helpful if you’re planning to implement it in your classroom.
What is extinction?
When we think about extinction and planned ignoring it’s important to remember our behavior principles. Behaviors often continue because they’re working, meaning our students are reinforced by the consequence that comes from the behavior. When we implement extinction, we will be removing the reinforcement our students are receiving (both positive or negative) for interfering behaviors.
When should we use extinction?
Extinction is a tricky intervention because it requires everyone in the child’s environment to respond in the same way. I find the most success using extinction protocols when behavior is maintained by attention. My team and I will usually conduct an FBA when we have an interfering behavior and when we analyze the data and see attention as a function of the behavior, extinction is one of the first interventions that comes to my mind.
What about that extinction burst?!
Extinction bursts are real, my friend. An extinction burst is when the interfering behavior escalates when extinction procedures are started. We have to remember that the interfering behavior our students have been helping our students access some sort of reinforcement. When we take away that reinforcement, oftentimes our students are going to up the ante in their behavior in order to receive that same reinforcement. I know sometimes it’s hard to ignore the extinction burst, but I need to caution you to WAIT IT OUT. When we intervene and provide reinforcement as things get worse, we’re just setting a new starting point for the interfering behavior the next time the student wants to be reinforced.
What to remember when using extinction
When implementing extinction, I always find it’s important to reinforce the ABSENCE of the behavior. Let’s say I’m targeting a student’s table swiping behavior with extinction. When my student is appropriately engaged in table top activities, this is the time to pour on the reinforcement. Providing social or tangible reinforcement while students are engaged in the appropriate replacement behavior is going to ensure that behavior increases while your undesired behavior decreases in the classroom.
I also find that during the extinction process, it’s a great time to teach students the replacement behavior we want to see from them. This is when I pull out all my visuals and tools and start teaching what we can do to appropriately gain attention or tangible items in the classroom (hello functional communication!!).
One last reminder, extinction is a gradual decrease in behavior. Collecting data on the target behavior is going to be key to ensure your plan is working. Think of extinction as the long game. You’re going to see a small decrease over time and as students adopt more appropriate ways to access their reinforcement, you’ll eventually see the behavior (mostly) disappear.
